What is your hometown?
I was born in Champaign, Illinois, but really grew up from a young age in Iowa City, so I consider Iowa City to be my hometown.
When did you join the UI faculty?
2001
How/when did you become interested in medicine and education?
I became interested in medicine when I started volunteering at the Free Medical Clinic as a “patient advocate” while I was an undergraduate in the late 1980’s. At that point I was also working as a research assistant in a Cell Biology lab and still thought that I would probably pursue a career in research. Eventually I changed my mind and applied to the University of Iowa PA Program, graduating in 1991. A few years after I graduated from PA school I started serving as a clinical preceptor for 2nd year PA students and very much enjoyed that role. Another factor that probably played an important role is that I grew up in a household of educators—my mother was a music teacher and my father was a professor here at the University of Iowa in the Biology Department so education was highly valued in my family.
What interested you to pursue a career in medical education?
My experience as a clinical preceptor for 2nd year physician assistant students.
How or why did you choose the UI?
The U of I sort of chose me—they were recruiting for a faculty member to serve as director of clinical education for the PA program here, and one of the students I had mentored in the clinic suggested my name as a potential candidate. David Asprey, the director of the PA program here at UI, called me and asked if I would be interested in applying for the position.
What kinds of professional opportunities or advantages does being a faculty member at Iowa provide? What about challenges?
My role as a teacher—especially in the classroom setting—has required me to learn a whole new set of skills, but has also been very rewarding. Now that I work only one day per week in a clinic setting, keeping up my skills as a clinician has been a definite challenge, though well worth the effort; sometimes I feel a bit torn between two different worlds.
Please describe your professional interests?
Clinically, I focus on family practice medicine. I really like the variety, and the feeling of being able to make a positive difference in people’s lives. On the academic side, I am working steadily at improving my classroom teaching skills, and have a strong interest in teaching (and applying!) evidence-based practice techniques. My research interests mainly focus on educational research—looking at how we teach and evaluate the learning process itself in medical education and how our methods might be improved.
What are some of your outside interests?
Canoeing, hiking, fishing, timber restoration work on an acreage in northeast Iowa, and spending time with family and friends.
Do you have an insight or philosophy that guides you in your professional work?
I try to always keep in mind that I am dealing with a highly motivated group of adult learners who have identified “healing” as their professional calling. I feel that it is very important to keep alive the enthusiasm and idealism that these students bring with them into their training and not let those qualities get crushed by the medical education process.
If you could change one thing about the world (or the world of medicine), what would it be?
If I could change one thing about the world of medicine, I would switch the U.S. over to a single-payor health care insurance system that would guarantee universal access to basic health care needs.
What is the biggest change you've experienced in your field since you were a student?
The physician assistant profession has moved from being a new and somewhat “experimental” profession to the point of being well established in this country. The profession is now going through a process of “internationalization” which is very exciting to watch.
What one piece of advice you would give to today's students?
Throw yourself wholeheartedly into your education with open arms and open minds.
What do you see as "the future" of medicine?
Hard to say right now, though some things are obvious. For example, we’re going to be dealing with an older, sicker population in the US, and will have much greater need for providers skilled in geriatrics.
My biggest worry about the future of medicine is that the U.S. has a huge and growing problem with access to care for under- and un-insured populations, but I don’t see any obvious ways out of that dilemma. I do think we may see a shift toward more corporately owned “acute care” clinics established in national pharmacy chains that will likely help the access problem to some extent by keeping relatively low prices and walk-in schedules, but in the long term, this type of system may be problematic in terms of quality and continuity of care.
In what ways are you engaged with the greater Iowa public?
I have served as an elected member of the Iowa Physician Assistant Society’s board of directors since 2003, and in that role have worked to get legislation passed that improves access to health care for all Iowans.